St. Paul, MN Greetings

I stumbled into bourbon 6-8 months ago and have been keeping my liquor stores busy.

I'm a huge beer geek and kept trying to get into scotch, but hated spending $50+ (or ~$.50/yr for a pour) to get something I actually enjoyed drinking more than a couple ounces of in a sitting.

I was turned on to bourbon as an event bartender trying to make cocktails out of random liquor selections and extremely limited mixers. I enjoyed the Maker's and the Woodford reserve and then a guy "made" me sample the Booker's he brought in and I was hooked. Then I had a friend introduce me to Buffalo Trace and Blanton's.

So, for the past 6 months I've been buying a bottle of bourbon about few weeks and having a couple pours well, very regularly. I committed to spending no more than $40/bottle until I got a handle on bourbon as a whole.

Bulleit Rye
Bulleit
Black Maple Hill (my wife cooked probably 1/3 of the bottle into meat (because she loved the smell), though I found it too sweet for my tastes.
Old Forester 100 (killed the bottle in a week, with a little help)
George Dickel #12 made it 1 night around a campfire.
Maker's Mark
Woodford Reserve
Knob Creek
Wild Turkey Rye
Evan Williams
Evan Williams single barrel (definitely prefer the single barrel).
Old Overholt Rye (honestly way better than the price suggests)
Old Heaven Hill BIB (bought to pass around but the wussy boys at the bachelor party preferred their Boone's Farm, Bud Light Limearitas, and Mich Golden Light)
Old Grand-dad and Old Grand-dad 114 (woof. Something tastes seriously off in these)
George Dickel #8 (what I'd always wanted from Jack, but now I couldn't stand to pour coke over it)

Re: St. Paul, MN Greetings

Hello spf, welcome aboard. With a $40 cap you have some serious purchasing power when it comes to Bourbon and your list fairly well covers the spectrum. I suggest you stay with the major producers until your tastes are refined further.

A word about 'mystique' whiskies . . . lets not mistake style for substance. A college professor I know in Iowa discovered Templeton a few years back and was extolling it's virtues when I had to explain to him they didn't actually make the whisky and it was overpriced by half. He had bought into the image and was more than a little put out when he felt misled.

Re: St. Paul, MN Greetings

Originally Posted by squire

A word about 'mystique' whiskies . . . lets not mistake style for substance. A college professor I know in Iowa discovered Templeton a few years back and was extolling it's virtues when I had to explain to him they didn't actually make the whisky and it was overpriced by half. He had bought into the image and was more than a little put out when he felt misled.

Well, you can include me in that bunch. I haven't done enough homework. I'll have to find out from the liquor store owner whether that Templeton he "could get from a guy" was this bottle, or something else. He said he could get me a used barrel too (for a batch of homebrew beer).

p_elliot, I'll have to get another bottle of the bulleit rye to do a side-by-side.

Re: St. Paul, MN Greetings

Something you might add to your list is Fleischmann's Rye by Barton. Oh it's not top end, but due to limited distribution you can get it and we can't so it is a bit exclusive and since you're a bartender I'm sure you'll find a use.

Re: St. Paul, MN Greetings

Originally Posted by sirpuddingfoot

p_elliot, I'll have to get another bottle of the bulleit rye to do a side-by-side.

Hellooo from Minneapolis.

Just had the wife pour me a bump of each in a blind tester.
Neat, no water, those are notably different Ryes. Not sure if the difference in alcohol 40% Templeton / 45% Bulleit could account for the difference.

But if we are talking $$, Bulleit goes for $20.00/750 around town a lot, and I think its a great Rye for the value also.
But you shouldnt be paying more than $39.99+tax for Templeton in MSP either.

Ill be down at the Iron Bartender finale at Icehouse this Sunday. Lots of good pours behind the bar there!

Re: St. Paul, MN Greetings

Originally Posted by grahampuba

Hellooo from Minneapolis.

Just had the wife pour me a bump of each in a blind tester.
Neat, no water, those are notably different Ryes. Not sure if the difference in alcohol 40% Templeton / 45% Bulleit could account for the difference.

But if we are talking $$, Bulleit goes for $20.00/750 around town a lot, and I think its a great Rye for the value also.
But you shouldnt be paying more than $39.99+tax for Templeton in MSP either.

Ill be down at the Iron Bartender finale at Icehouse this Sunday. Lots of good pours behind the bar there!

Which did you like better ?

Normal is an illusion. What is normal to the spider, is chaos for the fly.

Re: St. Paul, MN Greetings

Originally Posted by squire

Something you might add to your list is Fleischmann's Rye by Barton. Oh it's not top end, but due to limited distribution you can get it and we can't so it is a bit exclusive and since you're a bartender I'm sure you'll find a use.

I haven't seen Fleischmann's before. I think I'll have to find some better liquor (non-beer focused) stores.

I was an event bartender... a far cry from a real bartender. It was a nice way to make $30/hr on a weekend to supplement my alcohol habit.

Originally Posted by grahampuba

Hellooo from Minneapolis.

Just had the wife pour me a bump of each in a blind tester.
Neat, no water, those are notably different Ryes. Not sure if the difference in alcohol 40% Templeton / 45% Bulleit could account for the difference.

But if we are talking $$, Bulleit goes for $20.00/750 around town a lot, and I think its a great Rye for the value also.
But you shouldnt be paying more than $39.99+tax for Templeton in MSP either.

Ill be down at the Iron Bartender finale at Icehouse this Sunday. Lots of good pours behind the bar there!

My recollection of the bulleit was that it was a bit sharper on the rye spice and came with a bit more alcohol heat. I was certainly willing to discount my recollection since it was one of the first bottles I killed.
I've seen the Templeton for $50 at MGM and $54 at the small shop where I buy beer (Heritage Liquor in Maplewood). Where do you recommend shopping for bottles?

I had my wife blind sniff the the OGD 114 and GD #8 last night... her response: "[OGD] smells like throwing up in college, [GD] smells like vanilla and caramel or toffee."

Originally Posted by BFerguson

Welcome on board from another MN'er, not cities based but a bit south.